9 ways to learn Mandarin

Learning Mandarin has been one of the most humble and rewarding journeys. It usually takes a few months to adapt to learning, but you can do it. In learning Chinese, the way you study and the methods you use to make a big difference. Here are some suggestions that I have picked up on my journey and which can make the learning process easier and faster.

1, Consistency is key

The first and essential thing is to be consistent. Try to study for at least 20 minutes every day, since this is much more efficient than studying two courses twice a week. People overrate what they can achieve in a short period and underestimate what they can achieve long term.

Making an exception and not studying for even one day often outcomes in making an exception for two or even multiple days in a row, and that can set back your progress significantly. Every day has 15 minutes a day; they can invest in studying, so try your best to stick to that rule.

Whether you take a real language course or not, I suggest getting new textbooks for self-studying.
 

2, Books

You can use the New Practical Chinese Reader series, which is very good. It has a lot of dialogue, stories, texts, and exercises. The grammar is well-explained, and also it has a CD that contains the audio of the conversations.

3, Apps

Pleco is a Chinese-English digital dictionary; without a second thought, it should be the tool of choice for any Mandarin learning student. Most people use it on daily basis, and even they are not students of the Chinese language anymore, which indicates learning Mandarin is a life-long activity.

In the Pleco dictionary, there is something called a ‘clip reader’, which lets you paste full articles into the dictionary and highlight Mandarin language phrases as you go. WeChat itself is an awesome app; most folks do not use this app to meet new folks and practice the Chinese language. However, there are many remarkable features of this app, including many official accounts that publish articles in English and Chinese on a regular basis. Language learners around the world use Hellotalk app around the world.

On the Hellotalk app, you can teach your native language to other users and, in return, you can learn a second language. The only disadvantage of the Hellotalk app is that you will receive lots of messages from other users because there are thousands of Chinese native speakers that want to learn and practice the English language. Ideally, you can use this app with the aim to make some friends and then later add them to WeChat for practicing the language that you want to learn.

There is another best app for learning Chinese called ChineseSkill. Since it has lots of diverse features, particularly the dialogue package, which is worthy. It includes dialogues for beginner, intermediate and advanced level learners and covering all vast areas of topics. You can read them in Pinyin or characters, listen to them repeatedly, and all words are explained in English with even dictation exercises. After listening to a dialogue multiple times, you can remember all the new words that were used; this way, you can learn many words a day.

Also, advanced learners should check out apps like Youku, iQIYI (similar to Netflix), or Weibo (Social Media App similar to Facebook) to get the same input as native Chinese people. 

4, Learning the basics

Having an excellent necessary foundation in a language is essential, so you should consider taking a course at university or from a private tutor. In this way, you will have a native speaker teaching you the foundation and guiding you through the preliminary challenges.

Among those challenges will be tones and pronunciation. It is worth putting some extra hours into that in the beginning, so you will feel more confident when speaking later.

5, Self-study

You should consider making a study plan for yourself to study if you want to maximize your progress. For instance, you can choose one or two days per week in which you study one lesson in your textbook. On the other days, you can review and work with the apps. Having a system will assist you to stay consistent. Make sure you keep reviewing what you have learned and boost your efficiency. This approach is appealing to independent learners. You begin by hunting for Chinese language literature, dictionaries, books, and DVDs, which allows you to get a functional understanding of the language.

Then your search for online Chinese chartrooms and Chinese language partners. However, you give up and your passion soon disappears. What you require is that to stay motivated till you get command of the language. You can do that by selecting the HSK exam. If it is possible, even you can hunt for a job in China where you will have to meet and interact with your office colleagues. You will have a goal and strong reason to get command of the language and confirm that you move ahead in a structured manner.

Out there may be some folks who enjoy learning the language for no specific goal. If you are among those people who like what they are learning, then you do not need any motivation or reason. The benefit of self-study Mandarin is that you can choose the pace at which you get the command of the language. While the downside is that you do not have any specific reason, your enthusiasm will disappear, and you will get uninterested before finally quitting.

Another is about staying home learning, you may check this from Porch: Learning Languages From Home

6, Practice Speaking

Try to find a friend or a language partner who will practice pronunciation with you and who can also correct you. This option is ideal for you as you desire to learn Mandarin Chinese and inevitably get to speak continuously. It will let you discuss topics without hesitation and support your tie with your partner.

If you want to get good results, then you have to make sure that your talk does not get boring. You must include new and interesting phrases and words when you speaking. If you stick yourself to simple and limited vocabulary and phrases, you will not make any growth. You can discuss dramas, movies, TV shows, or any other topics that you love to talk about and then allow the conversation to go on naturally.

Once you are done with your study session, you can work and revise it with the resources you collected. The advantage of having language partners is that you can talk to them on a daily basis and can advance your Mandarin language skills quickly.

7, Growing Your Vocabulary

The next step will be to improve your basic vocabulary. You should not put much attention on characters (except some easy, basic ones) before you get a sense of how the language works; otherwise, it may be too much at once and overwhelm you.

Stick to your plan, study from a different perspective, and make a deck in a Flashcard app like Ankidroid, in which you can place all the new words you learn. Write Pinyin on one side and the English translation on the other. These kinds of apps use a Spaced Repetition System, which means the cards are repeated in time intervals, which are confirmed to be most useful for our brains to memorize new information. A Spaced Repetition System SRS will double the words you learn per day.

8, Learning Grammar

The next challenge might be Chinese grammar, which seems like a mix of logical and very confusing. Basic sentence structures of the Chinese language are not different from English, and the Chinese language does not really have tenses, pronouns, articles, and conjugations and that makes the grammar part easy initially.

Later on, the problem will be that grammar structures and concepts, sentences are so different from European languages that you cannot translate it to English in your head. So do not be discouraged if you just cannot make sense of these, your brain will adapt to it after enough revising.

One of the great ways to learn grammar is to make flashcards for each structure and repeat them multiple times during the day. Then read these sentences numerous times and repeat them in your head without looking at the card. This way, the brain can immerse in these patterns, and you will begin using them without realizing them.

9, Studying Chinese Characters

You will encounter Chinese characters at some point since they are a significant part of the language.

First, focus on reading, then slowly start writing the ones you are already comfortable reading. Again you should use the SRS flashcard app to learn them. Ankidroid has a Deck with the three thousand most common Hanzi, which you can download. Try to add 3 to 10 cards and revise the old ones every day. After learning some basic vocabulary, you should start a new vocabulary deck in which you only use characters and English translation.

Initially, it may be hard, but you should get used to characters instead of Pinyin as early as possible. Most people wonder if they should learn how to write characters since they will seldom write characters by hand in real life. But if you wish to take language classes or the HSK text, then you will need to learn how to write.

Also, it will help your reading; when you only learn how to read a character, you will often confuse similar characters. If you learn how to write characters, however, you would not have this problem.

Following these suggestions, you can build a robust vocabulary of around 2 thousand words, master grammar, and achieve a level close to HSK 4. At that point, you should change your strategy. Using the techniques and tips mentioned above, Chinese learners went from zero to HSK 4 levels in eight months and HSK 5 in a little more than a year. However, be sure about motivations. If you do not have reasons to learn or you are not determined to stick to it to the end, you should not even start. But if you really want to learn, I am sure you can make it.